Misquoting Muhammad

The Challenge and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet’s Legacy

By: Jonathan A.C. Brown

Narrated by: Paul Boehmer

Sometimes rumor, sometimes based on fact and often misunderstood, the tenets of Islamic law and dogma were not set in the religion's founding moments. They were developed, like in other world religions, over centuries by the clerical class of Muslim scholars.

Misquoting Muhammad takes listeners back in time through Islamic civilization and traces how and why such controversies developed, offering an inside view into how key and controversial aspects of Islam took shape. Misquoting Muhammad lays out how Muslim intellectuals have sought to balance reason and revelation, weigh science and religion, and negotiate the eternal truths of scripture amid shifting values.

©2014 Jonathan A. C. Brown (P)2017 Tantor

Well researched

The book reflects deep understanding of the nuances of Arabic language and Islamic history and scripture. Well written and adequately researched.
Narrator could have benefited from more preparation and practice of pronunciation of Arabic names.

A research of great value.

I'm gonna be honest. It's not the casual easy read. Mr brown digs in too deep and doesn't spare the details. Sometimes it's not gonna be easy to get by the chapter. But that's what a research of great value is like. In the end you are left with immense satisfaction with what you have learned and a feeling that every bit was worth it. Thank you Mr. Brown for the great effort.

As for Paul (The performer) he did really well but his Arabic was often times not recognizable. I kept repeating parts trying to figure out what the word he's trying to say is.

Great work overall.

Very Thoughtful and Honest

Religion is central to so many lives, yet people rarely explore the authenticity of the traditions they hold so dear. This book is a wonderful work on authenticity in Islam. It helped expand my horizons and put me on the path to a deeper, more progressive, more inclusive understanding of God’s universe.

The First and Best American MuHadith . . . Ameen

Dr Brown is the first non Orientalist and or native born Middle-easterner that has broken the “spell”, the myth propagandized by Western Muslims and Eastern Muslims that only native Al Arabiyyi speakers can be “authentic” Hadith Scholars in the Arab-Ulema- sense of the term. Muslim Arab believe superstitiously that only they can be a Mujtahid and not non Arabs.

Terrible Arabic pronunciation, excellent book

Do yourself a favor and actually read this book instead of listening to it. The audio version is hard for me to recommend, simply due to that alone. At the least, I've learned to look at reviews to see how the narrator is before I purchase an Audiobook. With all due respect to the narrator, listening to it was a big pain, cringeworthy, and a major distraction from the actual wonderful, well-researched content because of how terrible the Arabic pronunciation is. The voiceover narration does not do justice to the book. I learned a lot from this book, I appreciated Dr. Brown's academic and educational approach, and that it wasn't merely an exercise in Muslim apologetics.

Great book! Narrator is Ok

The book is eye-opening. It outlines the evolution of Islamic thought, in both jurisprudence (Fiqh) and Hadith.

The narrator, though was good, doesn't speak Arabic. there are many Arabic terms that he couldn't pronounce. It would have been better to have someone who could speak Arabic.

Fascinating and relevant

A great idea and a great book. This is perfect for anyone who actually wants to learn about Islam, rather than just confirm a positive or negative bias. I was very impressed that Brown was able to maintain an academic perspective through some of the more controversial subjects like jihad, gender, child marriage, apostasy, and reformation.

One of the Greatest books of our time!

Book with most nuanced arguments, research, scholarship. Unlike any other. Highly recommended to Muslims/Non-Muslims alike.

Recommended for non Muslim public

The book is well written and structured. The author mentioned several taboo subjects even among Muslims. As a Muslim with high degree in Islamic theology I recommend this book to whom seeking to know what really today's Islam looks like from inside.

Informative,objective, amazing and interesting Work!

One of the best if not the best book that provides readers with a wealth of information about the Islamic traditions from different arrays and Islamic backgrounds. I finds it particularly useful as it provides non- biased referenced information about several schools of Islamic faith. This book has a lot of information that may not be easily acceptable in this simple but great (form and narration)that is in my opinion should be appealing to any reader trying to understand what Islam is all about!